| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Alexander |
| Owner | F. Hurry & Co., Howdon [1] |
| Launched | 1801 |
| Fate | Wrecked 8 October 1808 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Full-rigged ship |
| Tons burthen | 301 [2] (bm) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Complement | 32 men |
| Armament | 8 × 18-pounder carronades [2] |
Alexander was a 301-ton merchant vessel launched at Shields in 1801. She became a whaler and made a voyage to New Zealand and the South Seas whale fisheries for Hurry & Co. She was wrecked while outbound from Liverpool in October 1808.
Alexander entered Lloyd's Register in 1801 with owner Hurry & Co., W. Sharp, master, changing to T.Robson, and trade, London-Baltic. [3] In 1802 her master changed to R. Rhodes and her trade changed to London-South Seas. [4] She was valued at £7,200. [5]
Captain Robert Rhodes sailed Alexander from Britain on 18 January 1802 for the New South Wales fishery. [lower-alpha 1] She was at Isle of Mayo on 10 March, and St Iago, both Cape Verde islands, on 18 March. [6] She arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 20 April. There she underwent calefaction. [5] By October she was at Norfolk Island. In March 1803 she was at New Zealand, but by May she was back at Norfolk Island. [6] While Alexander was at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, a 16-year old Māori named Teina joined her as a sailor. [7]
Alexander was reported to have arrived at Port Jackson on 1 June 1803, having arrived there from New Zealand with "oil". [8] The oil consisted of 50 tons of spermaceti oil. At Norfolk, Alexander picked up 18,535lbs. of pork, salted there, and brought it back to Port Jackson on behalf and account of the Government of New South Wales. At Port Jackson, Teina, the first Māori recorded to have left New Zealand since 1793, stayed with Governor King. [9] Alexander left Port Jackson on 19 September to return Teina to New Zealand. Governor King had given him gifts to take back with him, including pigs. [10] When they arrived at New Zealand Alexander recruited a second Māori, Maki. He and Teina then remained sailors on board Alexander for the next three years until she returned to Britain. (Teina died there but Maki survived.) [7] [lower-alpha 2]
Alexander was again at New Zealand in December, and was reported to have been off the coast in April–May 1804. By May she again visited Norfolk Island. She returned to Port Jackson where she stayed in June–July. She was at Hobart Town and in the Derwent on 26 August when Ocean arrived with the settlers she was bringing from the failed colony at Port Phillip. Alexander was in the Derwent gathering whale oil from the "black whale". Her chief officer was Jørgen Jørgensen who claimed to have harpooned the first whale taken in the Derwent. [12] She was still there in September, but at New Zealand in November. She returned to Port Jackson in December. [6]
She stayed at Port Jackson until 27 February 1805, when she is recorded as having sailed for England. [8] While at Port Jackson, Rhodes took on the Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen as mate. Alexander actually sailed first to Norfolk Island, and then New Zealand, before sailing for Cape Horn. She was forced to return to Otaheite and was reported there in June–July 1805. [6]
Alexander was at St Catherine's, off Brazil, from December 1805 to January 1806. [6]
The whaler Cyrus reported that Alexander was at St Helena on 26 March 1806, having come from New Holland with 1200 barrels sperm oil. Alexander returned to Britain on 27 June 1806 with 105 tuns of sperm oil, 105 tuns of whale oil. 70 tons of whale bone, 14,000 seal skins, and 22½ tuns of elephant seal oil. [6]
Unfortunately, oil prices had dropped and Rhodes found himself financially embarrassed. He was unable to pay his crew and he himself went to King's Bench debtors' prison. Teina fell ill and died. Maki survived, only to be crimped and sold to the master of another vessel. [13]
Lloyd's Register continued to carry Alexander, with Rhodes, master, until 1808. She was no longer present in 1809.
The Register of Shipping (RS) for 1809 showed Alexander with G.White, master, Edwards, owner, and trade London transport. [2]
There was a severe gale at Liverpool on 8 October 1808. Alexander, Wade, master, which had sailed for the Brazils the day before, put back and sailed some miles up the River Mersey to the point where she was wrecked. Her masts were cut away and she was full of water. Three other vessels were reported to have wrecked also. [14]
Sydney Packet was an American ship launched in 1801, taken in prize c. 1814 while under another name, condemned, and sold to Alexander Birnie & Co. She sailed to New South Wales, and next made three voyages as a whaler. She was lost in 1826.
Britannia was a 301 burthen ton full-rigged whaler built in 1783 in Bridport, England, and owned by the whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons. She also performed two voyages transporting convicts to Port Jackson. She was wrecked in 1806 off the coast of New South Wales.
Santa Anna was a Spanish brig that a British privateer captured in 1806. Her new owners then employed Santa Anna as a whaler. She wrecked in the Straits of Timor in 1811.
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.
Albion was a full-rigged whaler built at Deptford, England, and launched in 1798. She made five whaling voyages to the seas around New South Wales and New Zealand. The government chartered her in 1803 to transport stores and cattle, to Risdon Cove on the River Derwent, Tasmania.
Warren Hastings was built in 1789 at Calcutta, India. Her registry was transferred to Great Britain in 1796. In 1805 she was sold and her new owners renamed her Speke. She made three voyages transporting convicts from Britain to New South Wales. After her first convict voyage she engaged in whaling.
Indispensable was a sailing ship built in France and launched in 1791. She was captured in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and thus came into British hands, keeping her name. She performed two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1793 and 1797. During this period and later she made two voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales. Amongst her notable events were the discovery of Indispensable Strait (1794), the capture of a Spanish vessel (1798), and the rescue of some castaways (1814). She later went on serve as a whaler in the South Seas until autumn 1827. She ceased trading after this last voyage and was broken up by April 1830.
Britannia was a ship launched at Sunderland in 1783. In 1791 she received a three-year license from the British East India Company to engage in whaling in the South Pacific and off New South Wales. Britannia engaged in a small amount of sealing and whaling during her absence from Britain. She was also employed shuttling between Port Jackson and other ports bringing supplies to the new colonists. Shortly after her return to Britain in 1797 she temporarily disappeared from Lloyd's Register. From 1800 to 1822 she was a Greenland whaler, and then from 1822 to 1837 she was a Southern Whale fishery whaler. Between 1840 and 1844 she was a London-based collier. After a 61-year career, she was no longer listed in 1845.
DuBuc was a vessel captured in 1797 and sold that year for mercantile use. She initially became a West Indiaman, but then the whaling company Mather & Co. purchased her. She made four voyages for them, being condemned at Hobart in October 1808.
Dart was a brig or snow built at Ostend in 1792. She entered British records in 1801 and then made two whaling voyages to the southern whale fishery, but was captured during the second. However, she remained in her master's hands and continued to sail in the South Seas, being last listed in 1811.
Cumberland was launched in 1800 and sailed as a West Indiaman until 1807 or 1808 when she was sold to Enderbys. She then made five voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Enderbys sold Cumberland and she proceeded to sail between England and Australia. In 1827 she sailed from Hobart and was never seen again. It later transpired that pirates had captured her off the Falkland Islands and killed her crew and passengers.
Rambler was launched in America in 1812. The British captured her in 1813 as she was returning to America from Manila. She then briefly became a West Indiaman. In 1815 she became a whaler in the Southern Fishery. She made four complete whaling voyages and was wrecked on her fifth.
New Zealander was a French or Spanish vessel taken in prize c.1807. Daniel Bennett, one of the leading owners of whalers plying the Southern Whale Fishery purchased her. She performed four voyages for him. During the second the United States Navy captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She returned to England for the last time in August 1820 and is last listed in 1825.
Norfolk was built in France in 1784 under a different name. The British captured her c. 1800 and she made some voyages as a West Indiaman. She also made a cruise as a privateer. Between 1803 and 1808 she served the Royal Navy as an armed defense and hired armed ship on the Leith Station. She spent her time escorting convoys in the North Sea and captured one French privateer. After her naval service, between 1808 and 1814 Norfolk was a London-based transport. From 1814 to 1820 she made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1823.
Concord was launched at Dartmouth in 1807. From then until 1809 she traded widely. Between 1809 and 1812 two different histories emerged. The registers carried her as trading with North America. Other sources, however, have her sailing to the British Southern Whale Fishery as a sealer or whaler. She made three voyages between 1809 and 1816 in this capacity and then returned to trading. She was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope in November 1816.
Spring Grove was a Spanish vessel, launched in 1801, that had been taken in prize in 1806 and that her new owners had renamed. She made six voyages as a Southern Whale Fishery whaler before she wrecked in 1824 on the outbound leg of what was to have been her seventh voyage.
Venus was launched at Deptford in 1788 and made 15 voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Of 812 whalers in the British southern whale fishery database for which there was data, she had the fifth highest number of whaling voyages. She was last listed in 1823.
Argo was launched in 1802 in France, possibly under another name, and captured c.1804. She became a privateer and then a whaler. She made two complete whale hunting voyages in the British Southern Whale Fishery. A US Navy frigate captured her on her third whaling voyage.
Atalanta was launched in Holland in 1795, perhaps under another name. She was captured in 1798, and thereafter traded generally as a British merchantman. She was brig-rigged. Between 1801 and 1804 she made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, and may have been temporarily captured during the second. She then became a West Indiaman. Next, between 1808 and 1814, she made two voyages as a whaler in Australian and New Zealand waters. After the whaling voyages she traded more widely, especially to the Baltic. She was last listed in 1833.
Harriet was launched in Massachusetts in 1809. The British captured her and on 13 January 1813 a prize court condemned her. New owners retained her name. She became a West Indiaman, and made one voyage to New South Wales. Between 1818 and 1832 she made four complete voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was lost in October 1833 in the Seychelles on her fifth whaling voyage.
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